The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1887-11-04
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"lost cause" was lauded as being right
in principal and declared to still live
and President JEFF Davis was put far in
the lead OF Abraham Lincoln as the mar
to be honored and revered by Southern,
ers. The demonstrations at Macon over
Davis and the confederate flags is thus
described by an associated press dis.
patch:
At,the reception 10 Jef Davis yester.
day, after the rebel flag had been
brought forward, the old Confederate
i President waved the battle-torn flag over
the heads of the people, who yelled and
threw their hats away and cried like so
many children. Mrs. Davis and her two
daughters kissed the flag IN turn, and for
each kiss 5000 huzzas went I'D. Mrs.
Davis at last tore off a shred of the fac
and placed it within the bosom of. her
dress, whereupon a perfect pandemon-
ium of "God bless you" and similar
| shouts were let loose. When the fac
was handed back to the multitude the
men snatched all the available tatters
and pressed them warmly to their lips.
Pretty soon Mr.. Davis rose, and facing
| the people in the attitude of a speech
maker managed finally to bring about a
lull, in which he was heard by the very
nearest ones to say: Friends and
brothers, l am like that old flag, tattered
and torn by storms and years. love it
for its own sake and for yours. love il
as a memento of what your fathers did,
and what they hoped you would do.
will see you again"
At this point another fiag-one of the
old original flags with the three bars and
eleven stars-was passed up, and Mr..
Davis and his entire family kissed and
wept over it.
Can any Northern man read the de-
scription of these scenes and not feel
rising up in bis soul the most righteous
Indignation that men who profess allegl-
ance 10 the stars and stripes show SO
clearly their attachment for flag which
is blood-stained by treason and one of
the most infamous conspiracies in the
history of the world. But the climax of
the display of rebel spirit and laudation
of the principles of the lost cause was
had in speech made at the Davis de-
monstratiOn by one fire-eating rebel
called General Henry Jackson, an ex-
U. S. Minister to Mexico. 1t is unneces-
sary to comment on this speech. It's
sentiments are so clearly set forth, al. d
are so at variance with what the North
believes and upholds, that its publication
alone is sufficient to arouse a public feel
ing of indignation. Gen. Jackson said:
Confederate Veterans: There stands
upon the soil of Georgia the distinguish.
ed Mississippian who, within the life o.
the present generation, was the so-called
lost cause, We confederate veterans, re-
lict of the armies which fought for that
cause, are here to meet him, to move
before HMM the pride and pomp of
no Roman triumph, 1t is true, but bend
ing our necks to no Roman yoke of SUBJ
jugation; by invitation of the state of
Georgia speaking through her duly en-
powered officials, all have come. Be-
hold majestic truth revealing herself.
State sovereignty is not dead. Georgia
is sovereign still, and calls upon her
people to glory with her to-day. Her
glory is in her history. Her history is
the memory of her dead, and this day
is consecrated to her confederate dead.
They were guilty of no treason to her.
To whom then could they be traitors?
Where shall we see their higher sover-
eign? Shall we find him in the federal
constitution? Then there was a sover-
eign smitten to earth by traitor hands,
trampled IN the dust by traitor.feet, but
the hands and feet were not theirs.
do we hold that the men who fought
against them are traitors? Not at all.
They, too, were loyal to their sovereign.
The constitution was but treaty be-
tween high contracting sovereign part
inc xxyifh Of H. -
itself, since with lmpunity through long
years of painful agitation was it broken
by the North. They enacted into crime
the mere attempt of federal power TO
| enforce its DEGREES within their domin-
| ions, and because, after decades of en-
durance as patient as it was deluslve,
the sovereign parties of the south de-
| clined to accept their revolutionary will
in permanent place of the constitution,
| the compact-breaking sovereigns of the
| North, with numbers overwhelming
and material unbounded, made agrees
| i've war upon them to force them to &C
cept it. The world has been told that
the people of the South made the war
to perpetuate African slavery. This is
false. They did not create, institute,
nor do they wish to restore it.
'"The principle for which we fought,
the only principle of government ex-
pressive enough to meet the require
ments of advancing civilization, made
of late by Gladstone's eloquence so IA
millar to European thought, was Ameri-
can born.
cred with the blood of confederate
heroes, moist with the tears of confed-
crate widows and orphans, eastward
shall it continue to roll carrying with il
| hlncond liuh If
zation all around the globe, and 80
surely as it moves it shall bring the day
! of triumph.
SIN that triumphal procession Abra-
ham Lincoln shall not move as the
| rightful president, but Jefferson Davis,
the so-called traitor, leader of so-called
| lost cause.
"We, as confederates, can echo from
| our hearts the patriotic cry of Webster
the Great, Thanks be to God that I,
too, am an American citizen but if the
so called new South be base surrender
of the old, false confession, meanlv
false, of shame in our past, shame In
our sires, shame in our dead, which
none but the silliest fool can honestly
feel, then with all the power given to US
by the God of truth, we cry, 'Avaunt,
false South; avaunt rotten trunk upon a
cursed root, thy fruit must turn to
ashes.'"
The effect of these demonstrations up
on the Northern public is likely to be
Statutory. They show too plainly that
the old spirit of rebeldom is far from be-
ing subdued, and will teach Northern
voters the danger of allowing men who
hold such views to come into full control
of the government. After this exhibit
ton it should never again he charged
that the North is waving the bloody
shirt. Hortherners have never been
guilty of such unloyalty, and surely none
have revived sectional animosities so eff
fectually.
No SOONER had the Reed-Stordock in
vestigation closed and the daily papers
thereby bereft of several columns of